Dream House or Nightmare?

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  • Posted By: Raindrops @ 10/22/2007 12:49:44 AM

    Why are the prices going down?Surging high?Sky rocketing?
    Stock's ups and down?Market crashing?Banks?Corporates?Leasing companies?Pharmaceuticals?Buisnesses?Realtors?Rents?Buying and selling homes?Medicl?Bills?Fuel?FOOD?CLOTHES?BOOKS?EDUCATION?Take anything----its their to LYNCH your own people----why?You are their to provide and protect them ie the people,not turn their lives into night mares.
    I tell you even if you charge a DOLLAR for all the facilities you provide you shall mint money ie PROFIT----Give relief to ur people----make their lives not destroy----the whole world has learned wrong stuff from you---the RICH getting RICHER---the POOR---POORER----Shame on those who in the name of progress and prosperity are killing the majority.
    What kind of rulaers are u?
    Lift the downtrodden!
    Help others as God asks.
    Live and let live.
    Share the world with love not hate.
    Dont enter any home without permission---a country is ones home---so dont invade---for their wealth ie BLACK GOLD.
    Might is not right.
    God says:I have not made you police over them nor guard,dictator,responsible.
    Dont tell others to do good and forget yourselves,when you have the BOOK ,dont you read it?
    Dont pounce on others wealth like a vulture---in the name of liberation or religion----God forbids thefts,backbites,wrong witness,framing others for your wrongs,murder,suicide,VIOLENCE---for Violence is worst then murder---(Book)
    Unite not divide..
    Its time that the laws of God DAWNS ON ALL LOOTERS AND PLUNDERERS.
    Its the peoples power not a few at the top---who controls the world----the day the public realizes the TRUTH---all is gonna be well----Its peace God asks for---not wars---when I say war I mean effort to overcome all ills in a society-----In Arabic and urdu---jihad is a word derived from Juhd meaning effort----to overcome poverty,diseases,femine,illitracy and so on so forth----some muslims misinterpret as the west does----to cash on it.
    Give it a serious thought?
    A leader is onnne who sits with the common people---eat with them---solve their problems---not load them with chrges and interests,that too compound----even worst then that----bring the charges to the barest MINIMUM----instead of BOOM-----for a few---BOOM off goes the public---blownup---shattered-----to get votes---u have to win their hearts----how?Give them joy and happiness----to enjoy God's BLESSING---why Put a HIGH TAX on it???

  • Posted By: MAGGIB @ 10/22/2007 12:48:28 AM

    I think we are a society who has become accustom to quick money, quick changes and in general quick lives..Maybe we should think of our houses as homes versus investments....your return will come and in this case later than sooner but maybe that has to be okay.

  • Posted By: rogerally @ 10/21/2007 11:38:41 PM

    By the way, I don't feel "sorry".. In fact, just the opposite. I'm quite happy with what we built, just not when. - Roger

  • Posted By: zlou @ 10/21/2007 9:49:04 PM

    HAHAHAHA Typical americans! Quit being so jealous of someone who actually went to school and got educated and deserves the money that they make. Why don't you all quit whining about what you DON"T have and get off your lazy butts and so something about it instead of criticizing someone? To call this man GREEDY is hypocritical because you all know if you HAD the money to build such a lovely house you would want to make a profit also, who wouldn't?

    • Posted By: Coop1918 @ 10/21/2007 10:21:12 PM

      I'm not hypocritical. I have wealth and a modest home. no one knows my net because I don't discuss it or feel the need to do so. Yes I have investments - some up and some down. But I'm not fretting over it like Roger. And he's fretting because he has to live in his investment mistake and think about it EVERY waking minute.

      • Posted By: rogerally @ 10/21/2007 11:33:13 PM

        This is Roger. I asked both the writer and his editor to reconsider the sentence which said I expected double digit returns. They chose to leave the story unchanged and suggested I write this in the comments. So I am. The story made me appear greedy, which I'm not. This is not a question of greed, or ROI. It is a question of loss. To loose would be unfortunate for anyone, including me. Many posters had to sell and did loose. That is tragic. Anyone who bought in late '05 - '06 has that risk, regardless at what price point they bought, if they need to sell soon. That is the point of the story.

    • Posted By: mauricat @ 10/21/2007 9:59:54 PM

      Go do something usefull you fat capitalistic prissy bore

  • Posted By: carrons2 @ 10/21/2007 10:50:53 PM

    You should never consider your own personal home as an investment. Stocks bonds, gold, and silver and some commerical real estate properties should be considered investmnets. Your home is an investmnet in life style. Your home also provides tax deductions, that renter do not receive. If the property is losing value, have an appraisal done on the property to determine the current value, if lower than current assment, then appeal the tax assessor for lower property taxes. Consider doing TIC with a private investor, or investor groups. Be willing to create an investment vehicle out of your home for a private investor, or investor groups to consider buying into, and still keep some of the benfits of home ownership for your self Not all private investors, or investors groups are looking for rapid appreciation growth, but would consider buying security, and safety in an investment. You can create the best of all worlds, for yourself, and private investors, or investor groups. Just don't think on one level, be creatived, and think on muli-levels. Most of all don't let GREED thke over you thinking process.

  • Posted By: carrons2 @ 10/21/2007 10:41:44 PM

    You should never consider your own personal home as an investment. Stocks bonds, gold, and silver and some commerical real estate properties should be considered investmnets. Your home is an investmnet in life style. Your home also provides tax deductions, that renter do not receive. If the property is losing value, have an appraisal done on the property to determine the current value, if lower than current assment, then appeal the tax assessor for lower property taxes. Consider doing TIC with a private investor, or investor groups. Be willing to create an investment vehicle out of your home for a private investor, or investor groups to consider buying into, and still keep some of the benfits of home ownership for your self Not all private investors, or investors groups are looking for rapid appreciation growth, but would consider buying security, and safety in an investment. You can create the best of all worlds, for yourself, and private investors, or investor groups. Just don't think on one level, be creatived, and think on muli-levels. Most of all don't let GREED thke over you thinking process.

  • Posted By: Bonster @ 10/21/2007 12:08:57 PM

    You should build the house you love. That way if the value goes up that's great. If the value goes down that''s ok too because you love it and want to live there. Don't buy a house as your primary residence just for investment. There are other ways to invest money, and other pieces of real estate to buy if you want to to invest in real estate that you are not emotionally attached to.or obligated to live in and are strictly to be treated as investments. You crossed the line.

    • Posted By: Tinmoi22389 @ 10/21/2007 10:09:24 PM

      You are right man. Home is where you heart is. I am living with my family in my home. I mean home. Home is priceless. i don't care if the market value goes up and down. I also have two properties for rent. They are not homes. The market value goes up and down only bother me on two rental properties. However, I don't care much about it as long as I collect enough money to pay for morgage. People might ask me what if the housing market collapped. Well, the answer is " ash to ash".. Furthermore I came to this country in 1990 without any penny in my pocket, so what ? . Why do I need to worry too much about becoming richer and poorer. Life is short, enjoy it!

  • Posted By: springboksfan @ 10/21/2007 10:05:55 PM

    Are we supposed to feel sorry for Elliott and company? Because I don't. Somewhere along the lines, people lost sight of the reason to own a home: to have a place in which to (raise a family and) grow old, to have a solid and secure place no one could take from you. It's about security, not "return on investment." So if these people lose their shirts, I can't feel bad for them. After all, they weren't even building the right dream.

  • Posted By: ohwell! @ 10/21/2007 6:57:01 PM

    carolannxo,
    Instead of blaming greedy banks, couldn't you just blame naive people who are unable or unwilling to read the terms of their mortgages. Are you suggesting Roger put the inheritance into some sort of charity, negating the lifetime of toil and strife his ancestors went through? The American way is not to accept charity, but to "come here" on a boat with 12 dollars and a dream and make it happen with work. I think you have America confused with another country or two that punish sucess and drive while rewarding mediocrity. Obvioulsy there are exceptions, yadda yadda. Thanks for the entertaining view though, I enjoyed it and am glad there are people out there who still give a s#!t.

    • Posted By: mauricat @ 10/21/2007 10:03:43 PM

      yeah maybe you should remember how immigrants are usually the first ones to be ripped of by the banks.
      read a history book if you CAN read

  • Posted By: bizziedoll @ 10/21/2007 9:23:47 AM

    Roger...my hat's off to you! Being a builder myself, I can appreciate your situation. You seem to be an astute man so i'm sure you thought through all of the extras first. The bottom line is that the market is down. I live in Michigan which is one of the worst economic areas in the country and we are seeing a huge decline in housing. Our homes are on the market for more than a year ..hence, builders taking huge loses on spec homes. I personally believe that we are at the end of the down slide of the 10 yr cycle....things should start to turn around next year. Its unfortunate that all of the shallow readers/posters couldn't filter through their jealousy of you to see the root of the issue. Each and every one of us know that real estate is a great investment and for the average person without 401Ks and huge savings....that is how they invest their money is into real estate.....just on a different scale. I think you would make a great mentor....keep up the christian work. God Bless

    • Posted By: CokiCat @ 10/21/2007 11:15:00 AM

      I agree to an extent. The market will stabilize, and many families will breathe a sigh of relief. But that doesn't mean that THIS family will see anything near the appreciation they are hoping to get. Most of this investment appears to be emotional -- to build a "dream" house, well, that engages a lot of subjective emotions. Also, this family is acclimating itself to a certain lifestyle of living, so when they decide to downshift and "cash in" on the appreciation (again, debateable), they will have to make a major lifestyle shift from dream life to next phase of life to realize the profits they're hanging their hopes on. Quite a different investment than taking a fixer upper in a yet-undiscovered neighborhood and weighing each improvement based on whether it will give you a good return on investment for the money. That's investing. It's all about margin. Someone, somewhere told the average American that real estate investing is an easy game -- but it appears by the headlines that there are a lot of amateurs doing this. I feel sorry that this family didn't seek/or perhaps listen to more solid advice. Very foolish. Let's learn from this. One other point, whenever people chatter on about their homes being a nest egg -- of course, not taking into account how many times they've lost equity by cracking it open like a piggy bank -- and how they expect to retire on the sale of their home, I'm always tempted to ask them where they intend to live next ... a cardboard box? You have to buy another home, right? Or rent, right? And that will spend a large part of those so-called savings. It's a scary picture. And it just points out how financially illiterate Americans are. Hard lessons.

      • Posted By: mauricat @ 10/21/2007 12:07:41 PM

        Adding to insult is the new crop of inexpiereneced and incompetent new crop of realtors who took jobs in real estate when the market was really hot. No need for these nincompoops to break a sweat or tax a brain cell to make big commisions. Bad thing now they have to sell houses to eat and they don't have the skill to actually make a sell , or know how to follow through on the sale if they do have a buyer. Another bad thing is you have these professional deficit agents who been asked to sell homes for people who are trying to sell a house that is one foot into foreclosure, what a terrible thing when you can't make your payments on a home and you have a realtor that does not know what they are doing anyway and holding up potential sales becuase they are more concerned with their commissio We had a realtor try to talk us into a sub prime loan we said we were apprved for a VA loan she said she did not knw what a VA loan was .

        • Posted By: realestateexpert @ 10/21/2007 9:39:27 PM

          You wouldn't hire an attorney without looking into his/her credentials so why would you hire real estate agent without looking into theirs? Each agent brings something different to the table and you need to know why your agent is bringning and make sure that it is in alignment with what your needs are.

  • Posted By: sundrips @ 10/21/2007 9:13:35 PM

    What goes around, comes around

  • Posted By: JBHENT @ 10/21/2007 6:55:33 PM

    Greed, Greed !! You can blame this on the Realtor's and Contractor's
    1). You build a re4ally nice home for less than $100.00 a Square Ft.
    2). No one deserves to make 7% off of a homeowner, just to show their home.. If the sale price is $200,000.00 x 7% = $14,000.00 Why ??? But everyone blames the lenders !!! lENDERS DON'T HIRE Realtors ! Homeowners do... If it wasn't for the lenders half of the American people would not be in homes The other half don't have 7% to put down. If we are going to blame someone ! Blame the one's that really cause the sales price to go up.. Bankers don't put sales pricess on homes..

    • Posted By: realestateexpert @ 10/21/2007 9:12:15 PM

      #1 The prices were driven up not because some Realtor wanted to see how much they could sell a house for but because the interest rates dropped and suddenly there were way more buyers than sellers. Economics 101- when demand is high and supply is low guess what happens...the price goes up!Everyone wanted a piece of the action. People were buying homes that had no business buying them and that is the buyer's fault not the Realtor or the Lender. The only reason prices are going down is not because properties lost value...it is because we went from one extreme to another-too many sellers and not enough buyers-back to Economics 101-supply high, demand low-price goes down. In addition to the normal market of people (first time home buyers, move up buyers, move down buyres, etc.) we have irresponsible borrowers from a few years ago who now have to sell because they can't afford their mortgage and sellers who are selling just because they think the market is crap-which in my opinion is a bad move-wait it out if you can, that would be my suggestion. 2) Regarding the fees charged by Realtors. First of all, all fees are negotiable and second if you are trying to manage a 1/4 million dollar property, why wouldn't you hire an expert to help you? You can legally represent yourself in court but would you? No because you need an expert. You can stitch your own wounds but would you? No because again you need an expert to help you. If you think the fee is too high, try getting sued because you didn't follow the legal guidelines of selling your own home. There is a reason that our agreements are 20 pages long instead of the 2 page agreements you get at your local office supply store and we know every workd of them. We don't just stick a sign in the yard and hope for the best. The right Realtors are market experts trained to market, manage, and close one of the biggest transactions you will have. Think about it!

  • Posted By: CokiCat @ 10/21/2007 9:09:24 PM

    Re: ohwell!'s post

    Regarding ancestors toiling to build something to pass along ... ever heard of "shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations"? Google it, and you'll see why immigrants make traction here and following generations fritter it away on foolishness rather than employing the same frugality and intellect their ancestors did so successfully. I think "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" makes the same point. A word to those who seem to be seething with jealousy. Don't. No need to be. Ever head the saying "Looking good but going nowhere"? That pertains to a person that appears to be living large, where all looks golden on the outside, but in actuality, that person's true financial picture is a fright. In 1996, I had a chat with a mechanic who worked on imports and he confided that most of his clients were just a paycheck away from losing it all. We're witnessing the fallout of those "Roaring 20s-like days." But I don't feel sorry for them, because it's hardly the Great Depression -- we're simply not facing near-25% unemployment (that's right, near 25%). So people can learn. Hard lesson, but they can learn. I urge everyone on this board to start studying what those with multigenerational wealth do, how they pass along family values and teach stewardship, so that their kids, once grown, aren't wondering what to do with a windfall of cash. Even if you don't have much in savings, you can raise your kids to be financially literate. You might not be super-wealthy in your time, but your kids can actually build on your knowledge -- what they call human capital -- and in that way, you can build a legacy. My husband and I don't have much at all, but we're slowly turning our thinking around -- having not had any financial training -- and so we're benchmarking our goals against those who are in superior positions, those who have foundations, involved in charities, whose money actually invest in meaningful change.

  • Posted By: CokiCat @ 10/21/2007 9:09:19 PM

    Re: ohwell!'s post

    Regarding ancestors toiling to build something to pass along ... ever heard of "shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations"? Google it, and you'll see why immigrants make traction here and following generations fritter it away on foolishness rather than employing the same frugality and intellect their ancestors did so successfully. I think "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" makes the same point. A word to those who seem to be seething with jealousy. Don't. No need to be. Ever head the saying "Looking good but going nowhere"? That pertains to a person that appears to be living large, where all looks golden on the outside, but in actuality, that person's true financial picture is a fright. In 1996, I had a chat with a mechanic who worked on imports and he confided that most of his clients were just a paycheck away from losing it all. We're witnessing the fallout of those "Roaring 20s-like days." But I don't feel sorry for them, because it's hardly the Great Depression -- we're simply not facing near-25% unemployment (that's right, near 25%). So people can learn. Hard lesson, but they can learn. I urge everyone on this board to start studying what those with multigenerational wealth do, how they pass along family values and teach stewardship, so that their kids, once grown, aren't wondering what to do with a windfall of cash. Even if you don't have much in savings, you can raise your kids to be financially literate. You might not be super-wealthy in your time, but your kids can actually build on your knowledge -- what they call human capital -- and in that way, you can build a legacy. My husband and I don't have much at all, but we're slowly turning our thinking around -- having not had any financial training -- and so we're benchmarking our goals against those who are in superior positions, those who have foundations, involved in charities, whose money actually invest in meaningful change.

  • Posted By: bmfb1980 @ 10/21/2007 9:03:42 PM

    Who cares? Quit whining and get over it. People like that --- Americans in general --- are spoiled, shallow, ungrateful clods. We've become a nation of prancing prissy queens. THINGS COULD BE SO MUCH WORSE FOR MOST OF US, even if the economy DOESN'Tcrash. Most of us need more reality checks like this one. I hope it takes a very long time to break even. Yay!

  • Posted By: Coop1918 @ 10/21/2007 8:50:51 PM

    I'm glad that Roger and his wife can afford to keep the house if the value increases or decreases. With that said, I agree with the other posters. YOU took the risk Roger. Whine not to me. And the reason you took the risk was not for your comfort, your wife's comfort, or your family's comfort in a home. Instead it was GREED. You became greedy. And now you suffer from your GREED. I wonder how much empty space you have in the big ole house. how many rooms you don't even use. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to put you down. Just don't expect other to feel sorry for you.

  • Posted By: FinAnalyst @ 10/21/2007 8:44:41 PM

    Enter Your Comment

  • Posted By: FinAnalyst @ 10/21/2007 8:31:06 PM

    Welcome to the world of investments Roger, the risk-return trade off is inalienable. If you want outsized double digit returns on your investment in a house, you have to accept the large risk that accompanies it. Sorry those are the sour apples. I will not vote for anyone who tells me I need to pay higher taxes to bail out those who with risk-appetite than me. If you are going to make a risky venture... YOU HAVE TO ACCEPT THE RISK. People shouldn't point fingers because they made a careless investment, and it encourages the wrong behaviour if the American taxpayer buys out every idiot who didn't take three minutes to look at average historical house price appreciation (3%) and see that it falls way short of double digits. Thanks for ruining the economy.

  • Posted By: MichaelS @ 10/21/2007 7:15:46 PM

    People are losing their homes, most people are living in homes they couldn't afford to buy in today's market, and many of us in the "middle class" can't afford to live near our jobs, and I'm supposed to feel sorry for these people who live in monstrously huge homes (that they can afford) because they aren't seeing double digit returns? Why does Newsweek even bother to accept these articles as worthwhile?

    • Posted By: ucla_rules @ 10/21/2007 7:46:06 PM

      don't be jealous... Those people who cannot afford paying the mortgage deserve it. They are not retards, they should be responsible for their own financial plan.

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